Racism and all the bad -isms

I really hope it is.

No, it’s fucking language. This isn’t difficult, it really isn’t.

After being on the forum for 10 plus years I’m trolling. OK then.

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In this debate I thought you are. But, ok - you’re telling me you actually think the inclusion vs murderers argument is a good one? Wow, but ok…

just to put into context, what you all are actually “discussing”.

Sorry Season 2 GIF by Everything's Gonna Be Okay

Read my full post
Seriously, if you want yo argue at least do me a favour and read what I said

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Thing is, no one actually disagreed with that decison. So it had to quickly move on to murderers. :man_shrugging:

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Unfortunately it seemingly isnt. This sort of policy issue is downstream from more funadamental attitudes towards transpeople. If it was just a policy discussion about what to do in sports, with everyone starting on the same level on who transpeople are, then the conversation would be very different. It seems to me to be a fairly common position even among people who consider themselves supportive of trans people to think it is for the best that women’s sports be restricted to a fairly limited definition of who a woman is women (cis). How to enforce that is another matter, but that policy position isnt necessary bigoted.

However, far too often this policy preference is arrived at due to an ignorance of who transpeople are, why they have transitioned and what that entails. This is often a willful ignorance that is borne of prejudice and then permeates into pretty much every policy discussion where restricting transwomen is far less defensible and a lot more ugly.

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But there is a way of discussing the issue.

Obviously not on here though.

Because when the genesis of an argument reads “Boys have cocks, girls dont”

Then you know its difficult.

Only been true for about 250,000 years.

All of this taken into consideration, though… do you disagree with the decision?

Honestly, its one where I’m not going to get off the fence and so am glad I am not the one making the decision. It is not just an issue of whether a competitive advantage can be reasonably shown or assumed, but how do you enforce this without causing harms.

Goodness. Can’t one make the same leap for homo erectus? I just figured, with the nomenclature… Was I assuming too much?

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Are you serious? Men are bigger, faster and stronger than women.

People, discussions are discussions because there are usually different view points to talk about. One here is that gender is not so straightforward while the other is that it’s very clear. And I see that right at the start of this discussion. But somewhere along the discussion, because either party fails to convince the other, names started getting hurled at each other, ignorant, bully, phobic,… Why does it always become like that? Is it a discussion or are you all just interested to tell people you are right and others are always wrong?

Had a great conversation on all this with my teenage son recently. Loads of extreme right wingers in our state that would say the usual stuff.

He knows people who are gay, bi, trans, and he’s just a normal high school lad. He doesn’t understand why we don’t just support and love all people. See them. Care about them.

He uses whatever power he has to stand up for the underdog, usually by including them or saying hello, and definitely by standing up to the shithouses at school who just want to be twats. I’m proud of him for that.

With all that said, as a sporting family we did get into that side of the issue too. We concluded that sporting integrity is paramount, in sports at least, and in the absence of more finely tuned metrics to decide fairness, trans people may miss out on competing at a high level, if it potentially gives them a sporting advantage.

In the grand scheme of things that is small potatoes compared to the overall issue of compassion and support for the individual.

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Out of idle curiosity, how many kids at his school consider themselves to be trans? Seems to be way more prevalent on your side of the pond.

I don’t know, but both our son and daughter have good friends who are trans, as well as bi and gay.

I could be mistaken, but it seems more prevalent than when I was younger. It’s possible it was just more suppressed back then, or I was blind to it, I don’t know.

Bottom line for me is just to love people. If they aren’t getting a fair shake, or if they are getting shit on, we should use whatever power or influence we have to stand up for them.

And if we don’t get it, or understand, just have a soft heart and if our lives are personally touched, hopefully our kindness will overrule any misbobbles along the way.

Edit:
My daughter is gay, and we were having a heart to heart about something yesterday, and what I said just exasperated her. She talked about how she doesn’t feel entirely safe in these parts, and I wasn’t seeing it, and I said so, and we had an exchange. I was gutted that she ended up crying.

Upon reflection it broke my heart that I didn’t understand where she was coming from, as I should have done. I thank God that we had a second conversation and embraced.

I realized that hetero white males, even if well meaning, really need to work hard to have a soft heart and try to understand. I know nothing about all this, gay, trans, etc. But fuck me, can’t we just try to understand, respect and love each other?

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I agree and has seen how some people can be very cruel to the LGBT community and that is nasty.

But I will put myself out here with my personal example. Amongst my friends, they always know my view on issues like homosexuality and in short I don’t believe that homosexuality is natural. I once asked my friend who is gay, am I a bigot or do you think I am. He says have you treated me badly or differently,? Nope so you are as good a friend I have. I also went to a same sex wedding overseas because in Singapore that union is not recognized. The couple told me they wished I would agree otherwise but as far as my behavior towards them, I am a friend and that’s why I was invited.

But yet if today strangers who would not know me and I make my views known, I would be called a bigot, backwards stone age person who hates love etc.

My point is that in the two spectrums, there are a huge group of people who might disagree on many things but will agree on behaving as a decent human being. And trying to label people you do not know based on their opinions and not their general behaviour, is not helpful on both sides.

As usual, this world is not you are either black or white. There is a whole lot of gray out there who are kind people and not all evil.